PlayStation® 4 just announced in Feb 2013 is the latest console from the makers of PlayStation. This presentation will discuss the technology from a development standpoint as well as from the design side. Speaker Bio:

Chris Norden has been designing, programming, and producing games professionally for almost 19 years. Having worked at companies such as Origin Systems, Looking Glass Technologies, Ion Storm, and Aspyr Media, as well as starting several of his own companies, Chris has attained a broad level of technical knowledge and business experience that is a rare combination in this industry. Chris has now been at SCEA for almost 7 years helping developers around the world write better code for the PSP, PS3, PS Vita, and PS4 gaming systems.

Sony is currently hosting a presentation at the Game Developers Conference to cover new aspects about the PlayStation 4. Among the topics discussed include the system’s hardware, controller, Remote Play, and UI. Speaking of UI, Sony confirmed that the PSN friend limit has been raised – something that will likely please PS3 owners.

IGN’s Greg Miller is on-hand for the event and has been live-tweeting tidbits from the presentation. We’ve gathered up what’s been shared below.

- Targeted to be the “central device in the living room”
- “Core gamers are our primary audience
- PS4 build around them, salable to the outsiders
- 5 core PS4 principles: Simple, Immediate, Social, Integrated, Personalized
- PS4 CPU: 64-bit x86 arch, low power consumption, low heat, 8 cores, 8 HW threads, 2MiB L2 cache per 4 core group, 32kib l1 I/D-cache
- PlayStation Shader Language, very similar to HLSL, allows featured BEYOND Direct X 11 and OpenGL 4.0
- “GPU – Tessellation – adding geometric detail to smooth edges or create more organic shapes”
- PS4 RAM – 8GB 256 bit GDDR5 (GDDR5 is very high end graphics memory only found on PC graphics cards)
- Will come with “very large hard drive in every console”
- PS4 Dev Environment – Windows 7-bit, tools are fully integrated into Visual Studio 2010 and 2012
- “Debug your PS4 code as you would your PC code”
- PS4 Controller: Start/Select buttons are now “Options.” New System button is “Share.”
- Speaker, headset hack and “extension port” on the PS4 controller
- PS4 controller buttons are going back to digital over analog because no one used it on PS3
- PS4 controller L2/R2 – Curved design to get rid of the accidental netflix fast forwarding
- PS4 controller: 1920×900 resolution on the analog touchpad
- PS4 controller colors are the Player Numbers: 1-Blue, 2-Red, 3-Green, 4-Pink (Like the buttons)
- PS4 will charge controllers when it’s off. Unlike the PS3.
- PS4 controller light bar can be used for muzzle flashes, health bars, etc
- “The #PS4 Eye will enhance the PS4 user experience.” High sensitivity dual color cameras – 1280×800, 12 bits/pixel, 60Hz
- Dedicated port for the #PS4 camera, exclusive SCE Connector. Means it won’t use a USB port on the console, but won’t plug into your PC.
- Cam suggested uses: walkthrough vids, taunting in killcam, login, speech recognition, etc; possible PS4 Camera Magic – Sees the controller, you guys move, splitscreen moves to be on the right side
- The above is what devs could do (not mandatory)
- Video example shown of PS4 combining the camera and the controller. “AR Menu”
- Zoom into the controller, tilt to shake little dudes inside, push into our world like EyePet
- 2004: XMB, 2011: LiveArea, 2013: New #PS4 one based on the five principles from earlier
- UI is meant to give you at a glance info without loading the game. See what new DLC is out and whatnot. What friends are saying.
- Have to enable people seeing your real name on the #PS4. Auto-enabled if you import from another social network. (Can be turned off)
- PSN friend limit raised
- PS4 Mock-up: Heavy Rain choice with the number of your friends that chose each option.
- All the PS4 streaming and sharing: that’s on the hardware. Devs don’t have to do anything special to their game.
- PS4 Remote Play: Screens are mirrored on PS4/Vita (Both on at same time). Hardware does it/not on devs. Start at any time; no special mode.
- Talking about the PlayStation App. Login, buy game, PS4 starts downloading at home, you get home and start playing the part that’s DWLD.

- PS4 controller light bar can be used for muzzle flashes, health bars, etc- PS4 controller L2/R2 – Curved design to get rid of the accidental netflix fast forwarding- Have to enable people seeing your real name on the #PS4. Auto-enabled if you import from another social network. (Can be turned off)- Talking about the PlayStation App. Login, buy game, PS4 starts downloading at home, you get home and start playing the part that’s DWLD.

Those things I quite like.

And those whining about not being able to opt out, or claiming Sony is forcing you to use social features etc can rightly STFU now.

Posting Permissions

PlayStation Universe

Copyright 2006-2014 7578768 Canada Inc. All Right Reserved.

Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written
permission of Abstract Holdings International Ltd. prohibited.Use of this site is governed
by our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.